Weapon of Denial: Air Power and the Battle for New Guinea

34 Pages·2003·4.83 MB·English

by  Gary Null

Weapon of Denial
Air Power
and
the Battle for New Guinea
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of Pacific forces in
World War 11, viewed the Battle of the Bismarck Sea as a
disaster for the Japanese and a triumph for the Allies. In
that great air-sea confrontation, U.S. and Australian air for-
ces proved that air power could be decisive in preventing the
resupply of ground troops by sea. Months of torturous war-
fare in the jungles of New Guinea had left Japanese troops
vulnerable to disease and starvation. In the end, Allied air-
men were able to break Japan’s grip on New Guinea and end
its threat to Australia through the innovative and aggressive
use of air power. MacArthur’s strength lay in a dedicated and
courageous band of airmen who could attack enemy ships
from all directions at any time.
The Japanese Onslaught
The infamous attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan marked
the beginning of a protracted and grueling war in the Pacific.
Having dealt a stunning blow to the U.S. Pacific Fleet on De-
cember 7, 1941, Japan moved quickly to seize the oil-rich
Netherlands East Indies and establish a large defensive pe-
rimeter of islands between itself and Hawaii. Seemingly un-
stoppable at first, it had by late December gained a foothold
in the Philippines. During the first three months of 1943,
Japanese naval and ground units increased their attacks,
consolidated their gains, and moved deeper into the south-
west Pacific.
New Guinea was their next target. From there, Imperial
Forces planned to expand throughout the area, perhaps into
Australia itself. By April 1, 1942, they had landed virtually
unopposed at various sites from the northwest to Hollandia
and down into the southeast. Their arrival spelled the begin-
ning of the long and difficult New Guinea campaign, which
lasted until July 1944. Eventually, they were repulsed in
their advance toward Port Moresby on the southwest coast of
the Papuan peninsula by Allied ground forces and pushed
back to the island’s east coast.
The turning point came in March 1943, when U.S. and
Australian airmen won a decisive victory in the Battle of the
Bismarck Sea, shattering the enemy’s ability to resupply its
beleaguered New Guinea garrisons and setting the stage for
the ultimate Allied victory that followed.
Girding for Battle
By the end of March 1942, Japanese forces had pro-
gressed into the Papuan peninsula and as far as the Solomon
Islands, moving swiftly from Bougainville southeastward,
where on April 30 they began their occupation of Tulagi.
Countering this juggernaut, on March 31 U.S. Army Air
Forces (USAAF) in the Southwest Pacific Area sent the 8th
Bombardment Squadron to assist the small Australian garri-
son at Port Moresby with some Douglas A-24 dive bombers,
the Army’s version of the Navy’s famed SBD Dauntless,
which would soon be victorious in the Battle of Midway. A
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month later, the 8th Fighter Group arrived, equipped with
new Bell P-39 and P-400 Airacobra fighters-the latter ex-
port models of P-39s intended for use by the Royal Air Force
(RAF). The fighters made their first attacks against Japa-
nese forces 200 miles north of Port Moresby at two sites 19
miles apart on the western shore of the Huon Gulf-Lae, a
major enemy supply base, and Salamaua-on April 30. On
May 15 Port Moresby-bound Australian reinforcements were
dispatched.
Strike and Counter-Strike
On May 18 Japanese Imperial Headquarters directed
the Combined Fleet to occupy Port Moresby and seize Allied
bases throughout the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Fiji,
and Samoa. Control of the Coral Sea and its shores-the
gateway to Australia-would open virtually all of the central
and south Pacific to conquest. Elements of the Japanese
Fourth Fleet had begun this effort, known as Operation Mo,
on May 4 by embarking the Army’s South Seas Detachment
from their stronghold at Rabaul on New Britain, the largest
island in the Bismarck Archipelago, to Port Moresby. Mean-
while, Rear Adm. Frank Jack Fletcher had learned of the
Japanese occupation of Tulagi and headed there immedi-
ately, taking Task Force 17, built around the aircraft carrier
USS Yorktown. On May 4 the force launched fighters, dive-
bombers, and torpedo bombers-forty right before dawn,
thirty-eight later in the morning, and twenty-one in the af-
ternoon-against enemy ships in the area. TF 17 quickly
withdrew after sinking a destroyer, a merchant ship, four
landing barges, and six seaplanes.
Although the nadir of Allied fortunes in the Pacific oc-
curred just two days later with the surrender of Lt. Gen.
Jonathan Wainwright and his forces in the Philippines, the
war for both sides was about to change. The Japanese inva-
sion fleet, spearheaded by the light carrier Shoho and two
Pearl Harbor veterans, the Shokaku and Zuikaku, continued
to sail south into the Coral Sea, intent on capturing Port
Moresby. On the morning of May 6, B-17 Flying Fortresses
from the 19th Bombardment Group discovered the Shoho
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sixty miles south of Bougainville and the rest of the invasion
force later that day.
Pursuing the enemy fleet, Admiral Fletcher’s Task Force
17 joined Rear Adm. Aubrey W. Fitch’s Task Force 11, built
around the carrier USS Lexington, and British Rear Adm. J.
G. Crace’s support group of cruisers and destroyers. TF 11
was absorbed into TF 17 to form TF 17.5, while the support
group was redesignated TF 17.3. The entire force immedi-
ately steamed northwest toward New Guinea and the Japa-
nese Fourth Fleet.
Coral Sea through Milne Bay
That night, the two opponents prepared for combat,
which erupted on May 7, 1942, in the first naval battle ever
fought strictly by carrier-based aircraft. When the Battle of
the Coral Sea was over, the Allies had turned back the sea-
borne invasion of Port Moresby, sunk the Shoho, and seri-
ously damaged the Shokaku and the Zuikaku. Of critical
importance to the Allies, neither of the two surviving Japa-
nese carriers would be available in time for the coming Battle
of Midway, the turning point of the Pacific War less than a
month later, and although the Lexington was lost, the heav-
ily damaged Yorktown was repaired in time to participate.
The Battle of the Coral Sea saved the vital Allied stronghold
of Australia and also ended the enemy’s attempt to conquer
Port Moresby by strictly amphibious operations.
In mid-May, Imperial Japanese Headquarters estab-
lished the Seventeenth Army under the command of Lt. Gen.
Haruyoshi Hyakutake. Operating with the Imperial Navy’s
Second Fleet and First Air Fleet, the Seventeenth Army’s
mission was the same as the original South Seas Detach-
ment’s-to capture Port Moresby, New Caledonia, Samoa,
and Fiji. This time the Japanese ground force was signifi-
cantly larger, comprising nine infantry battalions including
the South Seas Detachment. Maj. Gen. Tomitoro Horii would
lead his troops overland along the Kokoda Trail to Port
Moresby, a difficult route which required their traversal of
the towering Owen Stanley Mountains. General Horii and
his force moved out of Gona, a Papuan peninsular coastal
settlement on Holnicote Bay, on July 21. By August 12 they
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had pushed into the mountains and taken a key pass, behav-
ing as brutally along the way as their comrades in China. In
a particularly ghastly incident on August 13, the Sasebo 5th
Special Naval Landing Force rounded up and beheaded every
man, woman, and child in the village of Buna, just south
southeast of Gona. When they reached their last victim, a
sixteen-year-old girl, they bungled horribly, inflicting griev-
ous wounds instead of immediate death, and had to finish
their crime by holding her down as she struggled and
screamed to the end.
To support their drive against Port Moresby, the Japa-
nese set out to seize Milne Bay, at the southeast tip of the
Papuan peninsula in late August, planning to land troops at
Rabi on its north shore and then capture a new Allied airfield
being constructed nearby. General Horii and 11,000 rein-
forcements had set out along the Kokoda Trail on August 22.
Five days later Japanese amphibious forces from New Ire-
land, in the Bismarck Archipelago, and Buna headed for
Milne Bay. At the same time, the Australians had assembled
six battalions of infantry along with the 46th U.S. Engineers,
the 709th U.S. Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battery, two squad-
rons of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Curtiss P-40 Kit-
tyhawks, and a detachment of RAAF Lockheed Hudson
twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft. The Allies at Milne Bay
numbered 9,500 men in all. Perhaps because the bay was
often shrouded by rain and mist, they were hidden from the
enemy. Worse for the Japanese, RAAF forces were com-
manded by a remarkably creative and tenacious officer,
Group Capt. William H. “Bull” Garing, and would, under his
leadership, be victorious in the coming battle there.
The Japanese were shocked by their eventual discovery
of this mighty Allied assemblage and driven to precipitous
and intemperate action. Rather than wait for the Aoba De-
tachment, still in the Philippines, they proceeded with troops
immediately at hand. The Kure 5th Special Naval Landing
Force (612 men), a portion of the murderous Sasebo 5th Spe-
cial Naval Landing Force (197 men), and the 16th Naval Pio-
neer Unit (362 men) totaled 1,171 troops. This force sailed for
Rabi on August 24 aboard two transports. In addition, 353
men of the Sasebo force, fresh from their atrocities at Buna,
followed on board seven large motorized barges.
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CORAL SEA
EASTERN NEW GUINEA
AND
BISMARCK
ARCHIPELAGO
0 20 40 60 80 100
# # # # I
Nautical Miles
Guadalcanal
The ships got through, and the Japanese were able to
land near their destination. Australian aircraft, fighting
their way through bad weather to attack the convoy from
New Britain on the 26th, managed to sink a minesweeper.
Meanwhile, the barges foolishly landed at Goodenough Is-
land, in the western D’Entrecasteaux chain, where their
troops disembarked along the beach to prepare a meal. In a
sudden surprise attack, twelve Australian P-40 strafers from
Milne Bay came roaring over at low level, delivering a taste
of real war. They destroyed all of the barges and most of the
equipment and supplies. More important, they left the survi-
vors stranded with no way to go on to Milne Bay or return to
Buna.
Heavy fighting followed at Milne Bay between Rabi and
the Allies’ defenses, which stood firm. The Japanese were un-
der orders to “kill without remorse”-orders that backfired
when the Australians found the remains of several captured
comrades who had been tied to trees and bayoneted. Tacked
by their bodies was a sign: “It took them a long time to die.”
This attempt at psychological warfare failed utterly. It filled
the Australians with terrible resolve and they fought even
more ferociously, driving the Japanese back to their landing
sites. By August 30 the Japanese high command realized
that its troops were in trouble. Adm. Matome Ugaki, chief of
staff to Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Com-
bined Fleet (and architect of the Pearl Harbor raid), noted:
The situation at Rabi was critical. The commanding
officers of both naval landing parties were killed.
One-third of the officers and about 560 men re-
mained, but only two hundred of them were capable
of fighting. Though they dispatched their last sad
telegram, some of them seemed to be still alive.
Despite the arrival of reinforcements during the evening
of August 28, the Japanese shortly withdrew, removing sur-
vivors hastily during the night of September 5-6 (within ear-
shot of pursuing Australian troops).
Afterwards, the Japanese shifted their attention to the
troops marooned on Goodenough Island, launching the de-
stroyers Isokaze and Yayoi on September 10 to rescue them.
But the next day, Australian P-40s from Milne Bay struck,
sinking the Yayoi and driving off the Isokuze and another de-
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